Mark Vientos becoming a true game changer in the Mets lineup

It won’t be easy in the last innings, especially without Edwin Diaz for another nine games, but the Mets they are so offensive that suddenly anything seems possible. Its stars are playing like stars and, perhaps most surprisingly at this moment, Marcos Vientos appears to be maturing into a hitter and perhaps even a game-changer.

His two home runs against the Yankees at Citi Field on Tuesday night helped set the tone for the Yankees’ defense. Gerrit Cole it is a 9-7 victory in their first Subway Series game this season.

It was further proof of what appears to be unlimited power potential, as Vientos hit both of his home runs at over 100 mph right off the bat and, in the case of the second, hit a Cole fastball into the outside half of the plate. and aligned it. over the fence in the center right.

“For most guys that’s a double difference,” an MLB scout texted last night when I asked his reaction. “He has a bit of Stanton/Judge in the way the ball comes off his stick. He hits everything really hard.”

The Mets knew this last year, of course, when they promoted him. He should have spent more time playing Buck ShowalterThat’s clear now, but he’ll be the first to tell you he was a more one-dimensional hitter then.

After an off-season dedicated to working on his pitch discipline and recognition, however, he appears to be a more complete hitter, with a .297 batting average and a .925 OPS to go along with nine home runs.

It’s still relatively early, with 129 plate appearances since his call-up, and recently it seemed like pitchers had found holes in his swing, as he was down for a week or so.

“He went through that period when it was difficult for him”, was the way Carlos Mendoza put it on after Tuesday’s game. “He was running behind, they turned the ball against him a lot. But he was still ready for the fastball. The key is not to panic, trust the process and look for pitches that he can do damage with.

“When he does that, when he stays close to the ball, keeps things simple, when he thinks about doing less, he can be very dangerous. We saw that tonight.

In fact, Vientos said it was a conversation with a teammate in Chicago last weekend that reminded him that he should think about hitting the ball to center and right-center instead of trying to pull the ball, and let your natural power take care of the rest.

“I’ve been working on it in the cage ever since,” Vientos said, “and it’s been working.”

He smiled, knowing that was an understatement. Including the 451-foot bomb he hit in the eighth inning at Wrigley Field on Sunday night, and then both on Tuesday, Vientos went deep on three consecutive hits.

All because he was thinking small, he said.

“He’s 100 percent right,” Vientos said of Mendoza’s assessment. “When I get in trouble is when I do too much. Thinking small, trying to simplify is best for me. On both home runs I was just trying to make contact and simplify it.”

It’s not just Vientos who’s hot for the Mets these days, of course. On Tuesday, Harrison Bader It is Brandon Nimmo also hit home runs against Cole, knocking him out after four innings.

And with nine more runs, the Mets continue to be perhaps the hottest offensive team in baseball in recent weeks. They have won 10 of their last 12 games, and in those 10 wins, they have scored 64 runs.

“We’re riding a wave,” Vientos said. “We are following our plan, our approach. We are talking about this before the games. If we continue to do this we will be dangerous. The vibes, the energy, we’re having fun playing right now.”

Is it sustainable? Mets stars have records that say it is, and perhaps more specifically, the emergence of Vientos, as well as the recent return of Francisco Álvarezwho has also been hitting hard, offers reason to believe that what the Mets are doing offensively is no coincidence.

Part of this goes back to the players-only meeting in late May, where the Mets held each other accountable and decided they needed to talk more about their hitting approach on a daily basis.

Mendoza says all of this has led to better hitting and results.

“It’s contagious,” he said. “And with what we got from Vientos and Alvarez, it makes our lineup that much deeper. When we click from 1 to 9, it’s special.”

In fact, for a long time Tuesday night it looked like the rout had begun after the Mets got to Cole early and took a 9-3 lead, but David Petersonwho pitched well, only went 4.1 innings because of his high pitch count, and asked the Mets bullpen to get 14 strikeouts now, with Diaz suspended and Adam Ottavino continue to fight, it is really a big ask.

Certainly, however Dedniel Nuñez was very good in 2.2 innings, things got complicated in the eighth when Mendoza used Ottavino, Danny Youngand had to bring him closer to spend the night, Reed Garrettwho promptly gave up a grand slam to Aaron Judge.

Still, Garrett managed four strikeouts, including a 1-2-3 ninth for the save and the win. The finish wasn’t pretty, and it will clearly be difficult to navigate the later innings with so few reliable options, but it was still a nice win for the Mets, taking it to the Yankees and Cole the way they did.

No one felt this more than Vientos. They asked him what it was like to hit home runs in the big leagues, as he had done in the minor leagues for years.

“It’s cooler,” he said with a smile.

Tonight that said it all.